Hot Curry Lovin'

Occasionally I will ponder, at 7 o'clock in the morning mind you, what I'm going to cook for dinner. If I happen to ask Turner then or at any other point before the evening, he will say that he doesn't know because he's not hungry. I think that since I cook the food and have to put something together, I tend to think about the preparations ahead of time. Turner is more likely to throw something together based on what's in the house or forgo cooking altogether and go get some street food.

This morning I was at a loss. I was tired of my repertory of recipes and didn't have the energy for completely unknown culinary territory, so I decided to do a variation on my regular curry recipe. Since I had a can of lentils and a can of tomatoes, I Googled "chicken lentil curry" and found some relevant recipes to used for inspiration. For dishes like stews, chilies, and curries, I tend to just toss things together instead of measuring precise amounts.


In a wok, I sauteed the basics to start: first the onion, then the garlic and ginger.

I added the boneless, skinless chicken that I had cut into small bits and the curry powder so that everything could get coated and the spices could toast to bring out their aromas and flavors. Then I squeezed the whole tomatoes from the can and added the juice along with two cups of chicken broth (from bouillon), a bay leaf, and three dried chilies.

Once this had simmered away for about 20 minutes, I added the rinsed lentils and let it all cook for about another 30 minutes. (I had to turn it off because Turner was late coming home from work.)

After Turner got home, had a shower, and made cocktails, I reheated the curry and then poured in almost one cup of yogurt. This adds a nice thickness/creaminess to the curry and can mellow out the heat of the chilies if it's overpowering. The curry gets ladled alongside white rice and steamed spinach. Oh, it was tasty. I'm already looking forward to eating the leftovers tomorrow. Like chili and stew, curry is usually better the second day.

Quiz Answer and More

Here is the answer to this week's Chinglish Food Quiz:


I'm sure you can tell what the product is from the picture. The Chinese call these la jiao, or hot pepper. We know them as chili peppers. Alyson had the closest answer as noodles are also dried and come in similar packaging, so one point for her! Stay tuned for another addition of the Chinglish Food Quiz.

Now, about last night's dinner. Here is what I started with. Can you guess what I made?

A curry with potatoes, cauliflower, and spinach, but because of the coconut milk, it tasted more like a Thai green curry than an Indian curry. I also made daal, aka lentils, with onion and tomatoes. I always used canned beans because no matter how hard Turner and I try to used dried beans, they never, ever cook properly. Maybe someone reading this has a fail-safe method for preparing dried beans. Please share if you do! I also use prepackaged curry powder, which I know is not authentic and I could very well make my own except powered turmeric is very expensive! I do use fresh ginger and grind coriander and cumin seeds to add a fresher punch than what is in the packet.

With the extra rice and coconut milk, I whipped up a quick rice pudding while Turner did the dishes. I can't share a recipe because it's one of those things that you make without measuring anything. I can say that it involves leftover rice (about 2 cups), milk (cow, soy, coconut, rice, goat...), water, cinnamon sticks, an egg, and some nutmeg, and it comes together like a pudding minus the corn starch because...duh...rice is a starch.

Mmmm... writing about last night's dinner makes me think about the leftovers that are sitting in the fridge waiting to be reheated and served with a fresh batch of rice. I was going to make naan, or Indian flat bread, but it requires rising time, and both yesterday and today I have not made it home in time to prepare the dough. I love naan. Some day I will share my recipe with you. I think I could eat freshly and authentically prepared (which means not by me) garlic naan every day for the rest of my life. I'm off on a tangent. Time to stop writing for now. 'Night!